Spin Class Discount

As part of my efforts to get back to the gym more often, I decided to go to a spin class.

I haven't been to spin in almost a year. There was a really good spin instructor but she left because her real life got in the way and she couldn't reconcile classes with her work schedule. About the same time I began working with a personal trainer and it didn't seem as necessary to spin.

There was a new instructor when I walked in. Normally I never bring a bottle of water to the cycle room. I'm a lousy multi-tasker. I find it awkward to try to spin and drink water at the same time, and there are plenty of water bubblers in the gym than I can use afterwards.

"Where's your water," the new instructor, Linda, asks me.

"I don't have any," I say.

She reaches into her pocket book, grabs a dollar and gives it to me so I go out to buy a bottle of water at the cooler.

The problem is, a water bottle costs $1.25. I return to the spin room and drop the dollar at the instructor's feet.

"Where's your water?" Linda asks.

"The water costs $1.25," I say.

"I can't let you spin unless you have water," she says. "Go back out there and tell the you're getting the spin class discount."

This is ridiculous. Someone probably joined my gym, went once, overextended him/herself, nearly passed out from exhaustion and sued the gym for his/her trouble. Now I have to pay the price by having spin class run like a dictatorship. I go back out and get the spin class discount. It's not worth making waves. Besides, Linda said I had to have water to spin. She didn't say I had to drink the water.

Class starts as normal. The water sits in the bottle rack, untouched. I wonder if Linda will stop class and order me to take a sip of water. It never happens. She seems oblivious that I go through the whole workout without drinking.

Everybody wins. I get a good workout. Linda gets to run class the way she wants. I get to avoid drinking water until after class. I'm drinking the water as I write this. Best of all, I got the gym class discount.